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I hear people say Win 8 isn't bad, it's good once you get used to it... bla bla bla.  Well, I'm still unconvinced and still happy with Win 7
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It could be better if the freaking menu was easier to get at. It's not much other than a full screen customizable start menu. It's good enough until you have a mass number of applications you deal with on a regular basis, even then there's a full listing you can get to quickly enough.
Just getting to the damn thing is about my only gripe about windows 8 other than the standard having to learn it all over again. It's extra fun on the remote server what with the lag.
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If you are on 7 then don't bother upgrading.
However the 8 experience isn't bad at all, you even get used to the charms, just wish I had the option to remove metro and all apps. My 8 machine is my dev machine, and I have yet needed a reason for Modern UI or any apps.
However we have people in the office that get an windows 8 machine and immediately downgrade, this I think is a mistake. Rather get used to the new, you will need to at some point, and you will soon realize that its not bad at all.
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I tried to like Win8. Came on a new notebook. Gave up when some programs wouldn't run in Win8. Put Win7 on.
Good luck trying to find the Win7 drivers for a machine "designed specially for Windows 8"! Yes, it uses components that are Win7 compatible, but there's no explicit support for Win7, as if they couldn't have predicted the backlash. Sure, you can still find new notebooks with Win7, but the specs aren't the best.
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Right on the money. The problem with the full screen start menu is that it is horrible. It shows hundreds of things you don't need and can't really group in a nice way. Oh well, I covered it here:
http://www.xaviermorera.com/2013/07/windows-8-folders/[^]
The problem with Microsoft is that the "me too" strategy worked so well in the past, that they are trying it now again but taking really really bad decisions.
Present anytime, anywhere: www.ccview.me
Clipboard in the cloud: www.cloudclipx.com
-- If I have 8 hours to chop down a tree, I spend 6 sharpening my ax! And I mostly do in CodeProject and Pluralsight!
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Not sure what you mean you can't group in a nice way. It's very easy to group programs, I use task based grouping such as Programming, Publishing, CADD, Utilities, etc. Have to admit 8.1 does this better since you don't have to delete all the programs from the Start Screen, you have to add what you want while everything is added to the "Apps" screen (not the Start Screen)
It's much faster for me to hit the Windows button and select a program from the start screen than to hit Start>Programs>Company X> Application.
Of course for my most used programs everything is on the Task Bar for even quicker access.
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It's difficult (to get used to W8) at first, but with some searches you will be there, perform any tasks you want in a new way. I used W8 from the beginning and going to love it until the end (if any).
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I am. Xavier commented on the button not the menu, so that's what I limited my remark to. Other than being gratuitous eye candy on anything other than a fondleslab I don't care about the start screen itself since normally type the name of anything not pined to the task bar anyway.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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You have to know the name to type first. Start menu doesn't require this ESP attribute for users.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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If you don't know what app you want to use, please turn off the computer and go home. Especially if you installed it.
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Really? Any serious dev is going to have massive numbers of applications installed, including tools you use a few times a year or less. Some of these tools are renamed occasionally when new versions are released. Example: I still go looking for "Ethereal" half the time I want Wireshark. Do you really want to pause and have to think what the actual name of some auxiliary app that came with your IDE or DBMS is called, or the diagnostics tool that you rarely need? Or, that thing you installed and meant to try out a while back but then got busy and therefore have never even used yet? I have hundreds of applications across several entire domains of computer use on my system, and while 95% of the time I just hit "start" and begin typing, the lack of being able to create a categorized, hierarchical menu system is a substantive loss for being able to find things in that other 5% of the time when navigating would be faster than pausing and extensively scanning one's own brain. What is the point in removing the ability to browse by task? In fact, where this is even more helpful is if the computer has more than one user. Does my wife know the names of all the things I have installed on one of our home computers? No, but she might be able to find something she needs if she can explore the menu. Scanning a flat screen of 200 tiles will just make her eyes glaze over.
I actually like Windows 8 in most ways, and most everyone trembling in fear over upgrading from Windows 7 is over-anxious with little good reason. But this is nevertheless a legitimate gripe.
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Easy fix for seeing your old start menu listing without having to use 3rd party apps, create a shortcut on the Start Screen to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs and you'll see a folder view of all the programs listed in a treeview format.
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I couldn't agree more. Luckily, with the 8.1 release, MS did re-introduce a keyboard shortcut, I think it was Ctrl-x followed by u and then enter but then again I blew away my Win 8.1 install and went back to good old Johnny Seven.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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I'm under the belief that due to budget restraint, they wouldn't make separate os from the tablet version. that or out right laziness and hope that we would conform instead of throwing us into the hands of their competitor.
In that same breath, ios7 is also another example of "laziness", though I have to admit it's nice that my apple product (ipad2) looks and feels like my z10 blackberry phone  
/////////////////
-Negative, I am a meat popsicle.
Two goldfish in a tank and one says, "how do you drive this thing?"
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They don't have enough budget because they spent 8 billion in Skype and several other billion in Nokia?
It is a good belief, but I disagree. MS has billions in the bank and if they do it right then they would basically be printing money like with Windows XP. Also Apple built the iPhone with 150 million which is tiny compared to the cash available. Look at the story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/and-then-steve-said-let-there-be-an-iphone.html[^]
Microsoft is failing not because of lack of money or bright minds. They have both... but not making the decisions and taking leadership!
Present anytime, anywhere: www.ccview.me
Clipboard in the cloud: www.cloudclipx.com
-- If I have 8 hours to chop down a tree, I spend 6 sharpening my ax! And I mostly do in CodeProject and Pluralsight!
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No way will I "upgrade" to IOS7 after my experience with IOS6.
Why do manufacturers try to dictate to their paying customers?
I always vote with my feet.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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One assumes Windows-C does not work?
MVVM # - I did it My Way
___________________________________________
Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011
.\\axxx
(That's an 'M')
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Mouse: Point at the top- or bottom-right corners.
Keyboard: Press the Windows key + C.
I agree that Win8 is not great and I still love Win 7 more than ever but Win8 is not that bad. I installed Start8 and never had problems with Win8 ever again. Give it a try.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Life would have been much easier if I had the source-code!!
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Windows? How delightfully infra-dig dear boy. 
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You know, you could just press Windows+C.
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Doh! You're complaining because the charms bar is too hard to open??
I'm complaining because it's too damned EASY to open.
I work in VS most of the day, using a laptop with a couple of screens. I have a mouse as well as my laptop's mousepad. I prefer to use the mouse but when I need to do some straight coding, I move the mouse well out of the way of the laptop keyboard, and this simple movement (that I've been making for years without problem) now results in the pointer going to the bottom right of screen and the bloody charms thing popping up, HIDING what I'm working on. I then need to alt-tab to get it back. But instinctively while my right hand is moving the mouse, my left is already starting to type, so I lose characters, or send them to the wrong app, or.. aagghhhhhhhh. This probably happens to me 30 - 40 times a day and it's driving me up the wall. Not charms, but a curse.   
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Have you ever considered one of those programs like Start8, Power8, Start Menu Reviver, etc? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Start_Menu_replacements_for_Windows_8[^] has a bunch of freeware listings of programs of this sort. One common theme is turning off the charms, restoring the start menu to a Win7 state (yet still using win8, course with the fully functional start menu back you don't even need the charms), and most will bypass the Metro startup, going into the Windows desktop at startup.
I got sick of the whole thing early, but didn't have a Windows 7 install CD. However, for the sake of staying legal, a friend suggested this option to me.
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So many replies on "why not press Windows + C"!
Basically it does help, but I guess those that answered this did not read my original thread. I am running inside a VM on terminal desktop (this is another story and I have no way around it).
So let me answer: Windows + C does NOT work. Why? Because if I press it the command goes to the outer machine, not the Windows Server 2012 that I have RDPd to and it is the one that I need to show the charms bar.
Present anytime, anywhere: www.ccview.me
Clipboard in the cloud: www.cloudclipx.com
-- If I have 8 hours to chop down a tree, I spend 6 sharpening my ax! And I mostly do in CodeProject and Pluralsight!
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I assume you have a keyboard. Windows-C gets you to the charms fast. I can find no use-case for going back to anything as clunky as the Start Menu or any new pretenders such as Start-88.
I have arranged the Start Page to suit my usage eg most frequently required on the left - sensible groupings - eliminating links to unused programs. Also put frequently used desktop programs as shortcuts on desktop. The beauty of Windows has always been its configurability.
For rarely used programs, such as regedit, I resort to the Windows-R Run option.
I spend 90% of my time in (on?) the desktop but find no issue in dropping into the start page if need be - the transition is so quick and fluid - especially using wheel-mouse (this was even the case with an old laptop with only 512MB of RAM).
Other people mention the (shouting) caps menus in VS and Office. They do look bad but these are easily fixed and converted to lowercase and all is well.
I have used every version of Windows since Windows 1. Favourites 3.1, 98, XP, 7, and 8.
(By the way I also use Mac OSX, IOS7, and Android).
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